US stance on nuclear deal will lead to global chaos – Iranian parliament speaker
US policies towards the 2015 nuclear deal and its sanctions against Moscow and Tehran will spread chaos in the international community, the speaker of Iran’s parliament said.
“It seems like they [the US] have started some action which will eventually lead to disorder on [the] world arena,” the speaker of Iranian parliament, Ali Larijani, said following a meeting on Friday with Vyacheslav Volodin, the speaker of the Duma lower house of Russia's parliament.
“An example to that is sanctions which they imposed on Iran and Russia as well as the measures they began to take in light of the nuclear agreement signed with Iran,” he added.
If Washington fails to comply with the nuclear deal arrangements, the agreement will collapse.
“Over the past months, the Americans repeatedly violated the nuclear agreement,” Larijani stated.
Larijani said he was surprised to hear US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson openly say that new administrations revise old agreements. “He was very clear – when you [Iran] negotiated, you should have known that the governments change, and the agreements may change as well,” Larijani added.
“But then you can’t reach any agreements at all.”
The UN nuclear watchdog has confirmed Iran’s commitment to its obligations under the deal seven times to date, Larijani said.
He warned that Tehran may respond with reciprocal measures – even if the US quits from the agreement.
"Even the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action [JCPOA] itself sets out that if other signatories take any measures, Iran may do so as well," Larijani said.
Moscow has already voiced concern over the likely US withdrawal from the nuclear agreement. “Such actions will surely damage the spirit of predictability, security, stability and non-proliferation on the globe,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said later on Friday, according to RIA Novosti. “It may seriously deteriorate the situation around the Iran nuclear dossier,” he added.
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“We know of Iran’s response, and of Iran’s withdrawal from the agreement,” Peskov said. Also on Friday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Moscow will remain committed to the nuclear agreement while speaking on the phone to his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif.
Fears over the US dismantling the deal are rising as the deadline to recertify it is due to expire on October 15. Withdrawal from the agreement was one of the key promises of Trump’s presidential campaign. During his tenure he has repeatedly accused Tehran of breaking the “spirit” of the landmark pact.
If Trump does decide to pull the US out, Congress will have 60 days to decide whether to re-impose sanctions on Iran, which will effectively lead to the demise of the agreement.
